Thursday Vietnamese Restaurants Roundup

Another list of Vietnamese restaurant reviews for locations in the USA and Australia. This roundup also includes interviews of Overseas Vietnamese that opened restaurants due to their love of Vietnamese food.

Mekong

First up is Mekong in Morrisville, North Carolina.

Than To and Hoa Tran fled their home in the Mekong Delta region in the wake of the Vietnam War and came to North Carolina some 35 years ago. For two decades, they owned Chinese restaurants in the eastern part of the state before relocating to the Triangle. Inspired by the growing popularity of their native cuisine, they opened Mekong in February near RTP in Alexander Village shopping center. Husband and wife share cooking duties. Source: The News&Observer.

Annam opens in Melbourne

A review of the opening of Annam Restaurant in Melbourne, Australia.

Before there was Vietnam, there was Annam. Chef Jerry Mai is returning to her homeland’s former name for the 100-seat restaurant and bar she plans to open in August. Teaming up with Rani Doyle from the National Hotel in Richmond, the food at Annam Restaurant Bar in Little Bourke Street will be more complex and refined than the purely Vietnamese dishes that have gained her a following at her two Pho Nom eateries. Source: Goodfood.

Á-Châu

Last review brings us back to the US. Á-Châu offers an assortment of Vietnamese food in Louisville, Kentucky.

The menu features mostly Vietnamese dishes, plus a taste of Thai, and it’s easily accessible in Vietnamese and English. Seven appetizers range in price from $2.50 (for a pair of cha giò, Vietnamese egg rolls) to $9.50 (for bò tái chanh, a spicy salad of lime-marinated spicy sliced beef). Bánh mi, the popular street-food sandwiches built on the fluffy baguette that remained as a Vietnamese favorite after the French colonial empire departed, are $4.

There’s pho, of course, the iconic Vietnamese soup that aficionados are learning to pronounce “phuh,” and five other dinner soups ($7.95 to $8.95), and about 18 other main-course vermicelli, rice, curry and other noodle dishes, all clustered in a comfortable price range from $6.95 to $9.95. Source: Leo Weekly.